Posted by My last few thrifting visits to my neighborhood thrift store have not yielded anything exciting, but yesterday I found something–just one thing–a 7″ stone jar. I have done well with items made from natural stone in the past selling geode bookends, onyx vases, and marble wine coolers. (Something to look for when you’re out thrifting.)
I steer clear of dyed stone though. I’ve seen some geode bookends dyed hot pink, turquoise and purplish that in my mind not only look garish but it turns out the dye rubs off on books.
Well, this nice piece had small signs of wear (a few small whitish marks and tiny chips on the rim) but was a lovely green and translucent! Not onyx or marble. Possibly jade or??
After a bit of research I think it’s alabaster from Egypt. I found several similar to mine. Here’s one on Etsy and that even has the same type of white marks here and there. Most of their photos don’t do it justice.
Well, I tried to see if my glass polish would help rub out the small marks. It didn’t do much to be honest. But as I researched polishing this type of stone I also discovered that conditioning it with wax was a thing professionals did. They prefer Renaissance Wax (created by the British Museum), but beeswax was recommended too. Well, golly, I had some beeswax that I have used on leather. I did a quick rub on and rub off on this vase and it came out beautifully!
Turns out waxing revives and protects items like this.
I’ll happily keep this on my mantel till it sells!
Here are a few of the handsome stone items I’ve sold in the past.
Hunting for Vintage 